Rural bus route gets back on the road with two new villages added to timetable

Community Action Dacorum minibuses

A community rural bus service is reaching out to two more villages next month with a new revised route and increased number of stops.

The 207 – which is laid on by Community Action Dacorum every Friday – will now pick up passengers from Wilstone and Marsworth as well as Tring, Wigginton and Long Marston before making its way to Hemel Hempstead.

The 16-seater mini bus transports the passengers – most of which are elderly – to the market in Hemel Hempstead and back again, which enables them to retain their independence and shop for themselves without relying on family.

Deborah Fogden – marketing co-ordinator at Community Action Dacorum – said: “We run the route to support individuals who may be isolated due to them perhaps not being as mobile, the fact that they may not be able to walk to a bus stop as easily or their village is not serviced by a public bus route. The timetable has been reviewed to include more stops and to allow more people to access the route.

“Some of the public bus service routes were changed last year as some of the buses couldn’t make it over the humpback bridges. This meant that the elderly in Tring’s surrounding villages were no longer able to use public transport – and that’s where Community Action Dacorum’s bus service came in.” The new timetable is effective from Friday, April 4.

The minibus is driven by volunteers and passengers pay a normal or concessionary fare – or those with bus passes can ride free.

To view the new timetable, visit www.communityactiondacorum.org/bus-services.